The Lady in White: A Regency Holiday Novella by Chasity Bowlin

Author:Chasity Bowlin [Bowlin, Chasity]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Dragonblade Publishing, Inc.
Published: 2024-10-27T00:00:00+00:00

Chapter Seven

Douglas punctuated that kiss with a slight nip, his teeth scraping gently over the lushness of her lower lip. The shiver it elicited from her was enough to test his resolve. He wasn’t going to bed her. Not yet. Despite the intense desire he felt for her and her apparent willingness, he knew that wasn’t quite enough. Louisa, with her sweet and passionate response, was still an innocent. And they had known one another only three days. He was selfish enough to want it, but not self-serving enough to give in to those desires.

Forcing himself to gentle the kiss, to ease it back from the cusp of calamity and to something sweeter, something that was far more about romance than about naked lust. When his breathing had slowed, when the blood that had been racing in his veins returned to its normal pace, he pulled back more still. With a final brush of his lips against hers, he released her.

“That was not how I intended for things to go. I want to be certain that when you invite me to your bed, Louisa, it’s because you want me there and not because you feel it is simply what a wife is supposed to do. We have enough things stacked against us in this without adding the weight of obligation.”

She shook her head. “You are mistaken, Douglas. Nothing that has passed between us has been because I felt it was what I ought to do. If I were concerned with that, I would have refused you outright.”

The startled laugh that erupted from him shocked them both. It had been a long while since he had laughed. Certainly, he hadn’t since returning to Rosehaven. “Indeed. I suppose you would have. In light of that, Louisa, I would advise you to rest while you may. I imagine there will not be any sleep for you tonight.”

“Where are you going then?”

All trace of amusement fled. “To find out precisely what Terrence is doing here and what he really wants. Nothing he says can ever be taken at face value.”

With that resolve firm in his mind, he turned and left the room. It was best that she not be present for his confrontation with Terrence. She was a distraction for him, and with his cousin, having all of one’s faculties about was imperative.

He found him in the billiard room. It was where Terrence normally spent the majority of his time while in residence. Or at least, it always had been. It seemed his habits had not changed.

“Cousin, I would have thought you had better things to do today than keep me company,” Terrence said, lifting his gaze from the billiard table even as he took his shot.

Douglas nodded in agreement. “Certainly more enjoyable things, but then there is little that would not be preferable to being in your company. I cannot simply toss you out of this house, not without providing other suitable lodgings for you. Uncle James made that a contingency, didn’t he? Now I must support you regardless of whatever wastrel endeavors you throw yourself into.

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